Author Archives: alysonebaker

Daughters of Messene by Maggie Rainey-Smith – 2015

Posted on June 10, 2016 by alysonebaker

Artemis’ mother, Nysa, was one of the ‘Greek Girls’ who arrived in Wellington in the 1960s to provide domestic staff for hotels and hospitals.  Many years later she is finally going to return to Greece, and Artemis is going to … Continue reading →

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Absence by Joanna King – 2016

Posted on May 28, 2016 by alysonebaker

Sometimes you pick a novel up at just the right time – after a string of adrenaline reads and rich historical dramas I was in the right mood for Joanna King’s debut novel; an introspective piece about what it is … Continue reading →

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Napoleon’s Willow by Joan Norlev Taylor – 2016

Posted on May 22, 2016 by alysonebaker

Bishop Pompallier says in this book: “We do not live in the Garden of Eden, though we may try to make our small corner resemble it” – but as well as the Tree of Life, the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Historical | 1 Comment

The Chain by Antony Millen – 2015

Posted on May 7, 2016 by alysonebaker

The Chain takes us into the privacy / security debate, it is set in 2043 where the democratising power of the Internet has gone ballistic – with no national borders or jingoistic-causing historical place names, and where all information exchange … Continue reading →

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Love as a Stranger by Owen Marshall – 2016

Posted on April 30, 2016 by alysonebaker

What a terribly human book!  Sarah meets Hartley when she is temporarily living in Auckland while her husband Robert undergoes Cancer treatment.  Hartley is a lawyer whose wife has died a couple of years before and who is despairing at … Continue reading →

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The Murder Trail by Leonie Mateer – 2015

Posted on March 24, 2016 by alysonebaker

This third romp in the Audrey Murders Series is as wacky as the previous two. Audrey is still running her cabins up North in native bush by the beach – and the operation, although improved from the time of The … Continue reading →

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American Blood by Ben Sanders – 2015

Posted on March 10, 2016 by alysonebaker

Want a good old American thriller with cops and killers with ice in their veins and a confusing line between right and wrong? – American Blood is for you, and it is written by Kiwi author Ben Sanders.  Sanders’ new … Continue reading →

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The Invisible Mile by David Coventry – 2015

Posted on March 6, 2016 by alysonebaker

What a breath-taking book!  Coventry has seamlessly inserted a rider into the historical Australia / New Zealand Ravat-Wonder-Dunlop cycling team that took part in the 1928 Tour de France.  The first English-speaking team to take part, they rode in one … Continue reading →

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How to Grow an Addict by J.A. Wright – 2015

Posted on February 15, 2016 by alysonebaker

How to grow an addict is quite an addictive read!  It is written in a naïve tone from the point of view of the ‘addict’, Randall Grange.  Randall is in rehab and the novel tells the story of how she … Continue reading →

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Coming Rain by Stephen Daisley – 2015

Posted on February 2, 2016 by alysonebaker

What a dismal tale!  Set in the outback of Australia in the 1950’s Coming Rain is the intertwined stories of two itinerant workers, Lew and Painter, and of the trials of a pregnant dingo.  The structure of the novel is … Continue reading →

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